The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said that it remains committed to developing greenway projects that work with farmers and landowners.
The comments follow a ruling by the Supreme Court rejecting two legal appeals against the South Kerry Greenway project.
In November, An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission to Kerry County Council for the 27km route from Glenbeigh to Caherciveen and the accompanying Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the lands required for the project.
This was subject to two unsuccessful legal challenges to the High Court by environmentalist Peter Sweetman and local landowner James Clifford and also by a group of landowners in the area from the Greenway Information Group.
One appeal to the Supreme Court argued that the CPO decision was flawed, while the other claimed the High Court had not addressed An Bord Pleanála’s failure to assess the environmental or public safety impacts of the project.
On Monday night (February 7, 2022), the Supreme Court rejected both applications for leave to appeal against the decision of the High Court.
Greenway code
Reacting to the ruling, Kerry IFA Chair Kenny Jones noted that the new Code of Best Practice for Greenways, which was launched last December, is an “important safeguard for farmers” whose lands are included in such projects.
A crucial part of the framework is a new sustainability payment for each landowner impacted by a greenway; this once-off goodwill payment will be given for early sign-on and co-operation during construction.
This payment will be in addition to the full value of the land acquired.
Jones outlined that an important aspect to the new code was the use of voluntary land acquisition agreements by the project promoters, in order to avoid the use of CPO.
“The farmer’s statutory rights are fully protected if they participate in this voluntary process. They still have full access to mediation and arbitration if there is no agreement on the valuation of the land and compensation for other impacts on their farms,” Jones added.
“IFA and farmers understand the importance of greenways to local communities. However, they can impact significantly on farmers whose lands are along the route.
“This code allows for a clear engagement process to minimise the impact and disruption to individual farms, along with a sustainability payment to farmers for their co-operation with the project during the construction phase,” Jones explained.
“IFA has always recognised the importance of projects like the South Kerry Greenway, in terms of the potential to realise agri-tourism and promote economic activity in rural areas,” Kenny concluded.
Engagement
The IFA acknowledged that Kerry County Council had engaged in a “constructive co-design” approach based on “goodwill and consultation” on the Tralee–Fenit Greenway and the Abbeyfeale–Listowel Greenway projects in north Kerry.
However, it claimed that the approach taken by the local authority on the South Kerry Greenway was “adversarial” and “did not value the goodwill of farmers”.
Kerry County Council has always stated that it engaged with all landowners but when agreement could not be reached with everyone involved it had to use CPO to progress the project.
In the wake of the Supreme Court judgement, the council said that it “looks forward to the commencement of construction of the South Kerry Greenway at the earliest opportunity and ensuring delivery of an enormously important amenity for the county”.